Plenary Lecture

Why are Wordnets important?

Professor Janos Csirik
Dean of Faculty of Science and Informatics Graduate Studies,
University of Szeged,
HUNGARY
E-mail: csirik@inf.u-szeged.hu
  

Abstract: Wordnets are lexical databases in which words are organized into clusters based on their meanings, and they are linked to each other through different semantic and lexical relations. The first wordnet called Princeton WordNet has been created for English, which has been followed by various wordnets born within the framework of EuroNet and BalkaNet projects. We focuses on the development of the Wordnets and of the Hungarian WordNet (HuWN). The process of constructing HuWn is illustrated with examples, some language-specific and language-independent problems encountered during the building process are discussed, and basic statistical data on HuWN are presented as well. Finally, two subontologies of HuWN, namely, the financial domain ontology and the legal domain ontology are also presented, with applications.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Name: Janos Csirik
Born: April 14, 1946 in Ambrózfalva, Hungary
Family: Married. 2 children
Citizenship: Hungarian

Degrees:
Dr. Rher. Nat., József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary, 1973.
Candidate of Math. Sci., Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Budapest, Hungary, 1977.
Doctor of Math. Sci., Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Budapest, Hungary, 1990.

Positions held:
Research worker, József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary, 1969-1977
Senior research worker, József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary, 1978-1990
Professor and Head of Dept. of Applied Computer Science, József Attila
University, Szeged, Hungary, 1990-95
Vice-rector of József Attila University, 1991-1992
Rector of József Attila University, 1992-1994
Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Culture and Education, 1994-95
Head of the Department of Computer Sciences, József Attila University, 1995-
Dean of Faculty of Science and Informatics Graduate Studies, University of Szeged 2005-

Visiting positions:
Vienna, Austria, 1974 (Boltzmann-fellowship), 5 months
Erlangen, West-Germany, 1980-81 (Humboldt-fellowship), 1 year
London, UK, 1981, 1 month
Erlangen, West-Germany, 1983 (Humboldt-fellowship), 5 months
Berne, Switzerland, 1987, 10 months
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1989-1990, 10 months
Berne, Switzerland, 1991, 1 month
Berne, Switzerland, 1994,1 month
Munich, Germany, 1996, (Humboldt fellowship), 3 months
ATT Research Labs, NJ., USA, 1998, (Fulbright-fellowship), 3 months
Graz, Austria, 1999, 1 month
Columbia University, New York, 2000, 1 month
Berne, Switzerland, 2001, 1 month
Berne, Switzerland, 2002. 2 months
Munich, Germany, 2002-2003, 1 year

Awards: Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1981
Kalmár Prize of the Hungarian Computer Society, 1983
Bolyai Farkas Prize, 1999
The Order of the Hungarian Republic, Officer’s Cross

Fields of research:
Analysis of algorithms, pattern recognition, medical image processing, natural language processing.